Optimization of belt grinding stepover for biomimetic micro-riblets surface on titanium alloy blades

Abstract

As an important component of aero-engine, the surface integrity of aero-engine blade directly affects the performance of the engine. The bionic ribbed surface of drag reduction inspired from shark skin has been widely used in various parts and achieved good drag reduction effect. However, in the actual processing process, there are situations where the ribbed surface cannot be processed due to the large stepover, while the ribbed surface processed can be damaged due to the small stepover, which ultimately affects the surface quality and surface integrity. Combining the particularity of the structure of the aero-engine blade and the micro-characteristics of the bionic ribbed surface, the relationship between the stepover and the micro-characteristics of belt grinding is established. Experimental detection found that the optimization effectively avoids the situation where the ribbed surface is largely damaged and the ribbed surface will not be processed in some locations. The surface roughness after the optimization is also relatively reduced. The morphology of the optimized surface is consistent, the surface roughness is improved by more than 3%, and the length of the overlapped part of the section is reduced from 0.32 to about 0.12 mm.